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January 02, 2015

Rice

Rice

English Essay on "Rice"

Rice, like wheat, barley, rye and oats, is a cultivated grass. But, unlike them, it is a tropical plant. In the sub tropical regions, it can only be grown in summer. It forms the staple food in Burma, Thailand, indo China, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan and in large areas of china, India and Pakistan.
There are many varieties of rice, most of which are known and grown in very small areas. Two crops of rice a year are possible in many countries, but in the sub-tropical countries like Pakistan it grows only as a summer crop. It requires a temperature ranging from 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, from the time when it is harvested.
In almost all rice-growing countries of Asia, rice if first sown in nurseries. When the plants are about 6 inches high, they are transplanted into fields which have been ploughed under water. For the first few weeks of its life the plant must stand in water. As it grows higher, it needs less and less water. By the time the grain is ripe, the fields are dry. Rice is then reaped and thrashed by hand. But in the United States of America, rice is sown like wheat, and the fields are kept wet until germination. After that they are flooded.
Unused rice is known as paddy. Before being exported rice is usually husked and skinned. After husking, the Grains are polished and become shining white in appearance.4essay.blogspot.com Unpolished rice, however, has better food value. As food, rice is rich in starch but poor in protein. That is why people eat rice with meal, fish, oil, and cheese. In China it is eaten with a sauce made from the Soya bean. Rice eaten without these additional dishes can cause many deficiency diseases.
Though many countries in Asia produce rice, only a few of them have large surpluses for export. These are Burma, Thailand, and countries of Indo-China. The greatest producers of rice-India and china-consume all the rice that they produce. Others have very little surplus, or are just sufficient in rice.
It will be observed that most rice growing countries are among the most thickly populated areas in the world. Some of these are already importing rice, as does our own country Malaysia, for example, and it is feared that the ever-increasing population in the exporting countries will soon force them to cut down their exports or stop them altogether. This is likely to cause serious food and economic problem for all rice importing countries. Thus the people and the government in these countries, particularly in our country, would be well advised to bring more areas under rice -cultivation. At the same time, efforts should be made to grow and introduce some other form of food to supplement rice.